


Out Of The Darkness - Christmas Intermission

by InsaneLiam



Series: Out Of The Darkness [3]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Post-Peaceful Android Revolution (Detroit: Become Human)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-20 22:40:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30012009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsaneLiam/pseuds/InsaneLiam
Summary: Connor experiences his first Christmas holiday and it does not go as he had hoped.This is part of a series. I'd recommend reading the previous story for context.
Relationships: Connor (Detroit: Become Human) & Original Male Character(s), Hank Anderson & Connor
Series: Out Of The Darkness [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2201385
Kudos: 4





	Out Of The Darkness - Christmas Intermission

**Author's Note:**

> Just a short Intermission piece that flew through my head and didn't fit into either the last story or my next one.

As the date inched further and further towards Christmas, Connor could feel his more or less calm state of mind begin to fray at the edges. 

The increasing reminders of Cole's favourite holiday led to an ever growing number of empty bottles in Hank's trash can. And as much as Connor tried to help, his innocent friendliness and slight naivety only seemed to pour salt on festering wounds, leaving the android despondent and helpless as he watched Hank slouched on the couch and drowning his sorrows in alcohol. The resulting atmosphere inside the house grew darker and more tense as the days passed, with less and less bright moments to break the monotony. 

Elliot on the other hand had thrown himself into his work with near fanatical obsession. Between his ongoing research with Chloe into humanising features for older android models, some kind of unexplained engineering project he kept close to his chest and queues of odd coding jobs to somehow keep afloat, Connor watched his friend grow more gaunt and weary with every passing day. At first he could still distract the young man with talks about their shared past, but as time moved on and no further memories came to light, Elliot seemed to draw further and further away as if to shield himself from some inevitable pain and no amount of asking from the android could make him explain the reason why.

But as busy as Connor was, struggling to take care of his father figure as well as his friend in any way he could think of, the nearly unchanging routine and lack of distraction left boredom to gnaw away at the seams of his mind.

More and more he found himself retreating into his mind palace, where he would watch the ghostly figures of happier times walk between the plants, wistfulness running like a shiver through his system. He couldn't fight the sinking feeling, that his life was heading towards a cliff and that if something didn't change soon, all of it would shatter apart.

Then one day - when he had finally managed to convince both humans to go outside and take a walk with Sumo in a park downtown - a chance meeting with Markus had finally given all of them a goal to work towards. 

Their own detective agency, generously funded by Markus' father, the aging painter Carl Manfred.

And so it happened that Connor's first ever Christmas took place in their newly furnished headquarter. It was a small office space that Connor had gleefully decorated similarly to the one appearing in an old noir film Hank had shown him one evening. The small windows were appropriately covered by dark blinds, letting only gloomy twilight filter through. The window sills were covered in plants and three worn desks made of dark wood stood beneath them, each one equipped with a terminal. The opposite wall was covered in huge bookcases and filing cabinets broken up by three doors leading to a small kitchen, a bathroom and Elliott's new workshop. This last feature was the one Connor liked most, as it finally gave Elliot the chance to move into a less expensive flat. The back side of the room should have originally held a group of armchairs but one resentful "if ya really think I'd inflict those monstrosities ya call chairs on my poor back, ya can think again, kid!" courtesy of Hank and now the area was occupied by a large couch facing a small TV on a small side table. The entrance door - next to Sumo's bed - was made of opaque glass, bold black letters on the outside reading 

**Anderson & Android**

**Private Investigators**

Specialised on android affairs

It had been named thus by Hank after Elliot had only shaken his head at the offer of including his surname.

Hank had gruffly rejected any mention of Christmas decoration so the only bit of holiday atmosphere could be found in a handful of brightly coloured glass baubles Connor had stubbornly pinned to the plants next to his desk, before growling "If those vanish, I promise to pour salt into your coffee for the next month. I'm serious, Hank! This is my first Christmas and you. Will. Not. Ruin. It." and appropriating the TV remote to put on the rerun of an old Christmas classic, a dangerous gleam in his eyes daring his father to protest. Hank only huffed in annoyed resignation, grabbed a beer from the fridge in the kitchen and sank down on the couch next to his android son. Elliot chuckled lowly from his place in one of the office chairs, a large book open in his lap and reading glasses perched on his nose, and turned back to leafing through the pages. The older man bristled slightly at the sound and grumbled, "Yeah, yeah. Laugh all you want, but I don't see you jumping with holiday cheer either, kid." Elliot looked over the edge of his glasses, a dark gleam entering his eyes. "That may be, because the last Christmas I had any inclination of celebrating happens to be the one just before my mum's _death_ ." Silence pressed down on all of them at this harsh reminder, only made worse by the cheerful carol sounding from the TV. Connor shifted in his seat, trying to repress the urge to pull out his coin. _This may have been a bad idea._ He looked around the room for any form of distraction, gaze catching on Elliott's open book. "What are you reading, if you don't mind me asking?" The young man looked down at the page and his face pulled into a mischievous smirk as he pronounced carefully, "A Christmas carol." His smirk turned into a laugh when Hank snorted beer and pounded against his chest, coughing loudly. Wiping foam from his chin, the other man rasped, "Jesus Christ, kid, you really had me going there for a second!" Elliot took a victorious sip from his cup of hot cocoa and shook his head in mock disappointment, eyes bright with mirth. "Really, Anderson? If I'd weep about everything connected to my mum, my cover in CyberLife would have never lasted longer than a day."

As the humans continued their customary bickering, something warm swept through Connor's systems. Not every hurdle may be overcome simply by starting a new career, but it certainly appeared to help - even as some things remained unerringly the same.

_A strange family, indeed._


End file.
